Finding good jewelry that you can afford might turn into a problem. Since there are many opportunities to find cheap jewelry, you can easily come off worst: Necklace chains that break, rings that turn your skin green, or earrings that look after just a short time bad. To find cheap, good-quality jewelry that lasts, we have to look at the following aspects.
Buy What You Know
When shopping for jewelry on a budget, it just makes sense to buy from brands you know. Go through all the brands you’ve had good experiences with, especially with jewelry. Look at your favorite jewelry pieces’ brands and try to remember recent brands where you bought gifts. Think of good jewelry brands you heard of and that friends have talked about.
If you still can’t find the pieces you want, don’t hesitate to ask friends and family what brands they can recommend and what experiences they’ve made.
Finding Good Jewelry Online Stores
For quite some time, more and more people started establishing a jewelry business, which is great for us consumers. On the other side, it can also bring us into new dangers on the internet. Before filling in all your contact information and paying the money, you have to ensure the company is trustworthy. You can click here to read more about how to shop jewelry online to make sure when to trust a company and how to feel more secure.
The Correct Material
When it comes to jewelry, one of the very important things is to check the piece’s material. Especially because the jewelry is sometimes for several hours on our skin, it is important to have good quality materials.
Before ordering online, make sure to study the product description. When being online, you can ask a seller what material the jewelry piece is being made of, if it doesn’t say on the package.
Best Jewelry Metals
Platinum: This metal is quite strong, hypoallergenic, and doesn’t tarnish. It’s often used for wedding rings because it’s very durable and long-lasting. Unfortunately, Platinum is more expensive and so often used in a small percentage.
Sterling silver (or 925 silver): The metal is made of 92,5% silver with 7,5% metal alloys. Because of this mix, sterling silver is more durable for daily jewelry and also cheaper than pure silver. Nevertheless, it does tarnish faster which is why you have to take care of it.
Gold: Gold has been one of the best jewelry materials because of its hypoallergenic function as well as it even doesn’t rust. For affordable gold jewelry, gold-plated sterling silver is often used. The core is silver with a gold layer around it. While it has not the high quality as 18k gold, the jewelry is lighter and easier to wear. Quality-wise, the more gold in it, the better.
Worst Jewelry Metals
Cadmium and nickel: Both materials are skin irritants and can have a toxic effect due to allergies to them.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and other plastics: Often, plasticizers are added to these materials which makes them soft but also very harmful to the skin and environment. Try to avoid as much plastic as possible in your pieces.
Lead: Although it was found out that the metal has direct connections to developmental issues in one’s health, it is still often used in jewelry pieces today. Be careful to not have even a little lead in your jewelry.
Zinc and brass: Many people wearing zinc jewelry find out that they have zinc allergies, due to the nickel, lead, and copper in the material. Brass is made of copper and zinc. You should try to leave out these materials to not take a risk of getting an allergic reaction. They should be avoided for kids.
What Does The Price Say?
Like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a jewelry piece by its prize. Still, it is a factor to consider the quality of the jewelry. When you want to shop smart on a budget you have to think about two scenarios:
- You buy a jewelry piece under $20, hoping that the quality is fine but taking the risk that it doesn’t last for long.
- You buy a jewelry piece from $20 to $100, spending more money than you’d like to but might have a long-lasting good-looking jewelry piece like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a jewelry piece by its prize.
To be clear, we are still talking about affordable jewelry here. If you’re thinking about buying more expensive fine jewelry, you should check out our thoughts on getting jewelry as an investment.
Yes, finding cheap good quality jewelry is the very best thing to happen. But in the meantime, consider buying more expensive jewelry. While spending a bit more on jewelry can hurt your wallet, it can still be the better choice, considering the fewer jewelry pieces get broken or look cheap and so less jewelry that you have to buy new.
You’re Not Alone
When buying jewelry, remember that you don’t have to decide by yourself. Especially when you’re usually shopping on a budget but are planning to purchase a more expensive piece, the decision-making can feel brutal.
But luckily, in most cases, you can ask people in your surrounding who are often happy to give you an opinion about your potential new jewelry. As said earlier, they might also give you tips about some brands or experiences they’ve had.
But don’t forget, you make the final decision! When spending some more money, you should be sure to decide what you think is the best, before regretting it in the end.
What’s Important In Finding Cheap Good Quality Jewelry?
Finding good affordable jewelry can be a thin line between buying cheap and bad-quality jewelry and spending a lot of money. Before committing to buy from a new jewelry brand, think of brands that you know the quality of while also considering the opinions and experiences of the people around you. When finding good jewelry it might be a safer option to look for pieces in actual stores than online.
However you decide, always check the materials before buying, knowing that platinum, gold, and sterling silver are good materials, and avoid cadmium, nickel, lead, zinc, brass, and plastics. All these tips can help you but you have to keep in mind that every skin reacts differently to each material and just you put the priority on your jewelry pieces.
